WC2002 Finals will be played in two rounds: The League Stage and The Knock-out Stage:
32 nations will compete in the league stage and 16 will progress and the 16 will be eliminated.
The second round will be one-game knockout style competition. 16 nations will play and try to knock the other nation out of the competition until the winner is decided.

The League Stage:

32 nations play play in 8 groups of four. 4 of the groups (A,B,C,D) play in Korean Republic and the others (E,F,G,H) play in Japan.

The nations will be awarded three points for a win, one for a tie and none for a loss. They will be ranked according to the points accumulated and the goals scored for and against.

Top two nations in each group will progress to the knock-out round.

The tie-breakers:
1 - greater number of points obtained in all group matches
2 - goal difference in all the group matches
3 - greater number of goals scored in all the group matches
4 - greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned
5 - goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned
6 - greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned
7 - drawing lots by the Organizing Committee for the FIFA World Cup